Tourist rental platforms trust that their duty to collect user data will be canceled

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

The rental platforms that tourists use trust that the Spanish justice system will cancel the obligation imposed by the Treasury to send information on its clients, both owners and landlords, to the beginning of next year.

Most of the large companies in the sector with a presence in Spain - Airbnb, HomeAway, Rentalia, Niumba (TripAdvisor) and Spain Holidays - are looking forward to the Supreme Court ruling on the lawsuit they filed against the decree that requires them to send that information in its quality as tourist leasing intermediaries.

The decree establishes that, since the beginning of the year, the platforms must provide data on the identity of the owner of the apartment, the days to be used for tourism purposes, the amount received and the date of the rental; as well as other additional data that are voluntary and that seek to "increase transparency and avoid possible information requirements", as the Tax Agency has reminded Efe.

However, the platforms consider that some of the required information is “excessive” and “irrelevant” for the Treasury, while compiling it violates European and Spanish legislation on data protection, as they claim in their lawsuit.

"This is a problem that affects the entire sector," says Booking.com, which in statements to Efe adds that it studies how these requirements "may conflict with the privacy regulations and practical challenges" of its collection.

This platform - the only one of the big ones that did not support the demand - says that it is collaborating with the Treasury, without clarifying whether it has delivered all the required information on time, and that “it will continue taking measures to remind its customers of the need to provide” data.

Airbnb has also assured Efe that it has delivered the information of all its clients and that it is complying with the legislation, and has enabled different mechanisms to inform its clients and facilitate the declaration of the income obtained.

From the Spanish Association of the Digital Economy (Adigital), in which all the aforementioned platforms are integrated except Booking, it is defended that «some of the requirements (of the Treasury) contravene a community norm, are not proportional and have no tax significance» .

Its General Director, José Luis Zimmermann, has explained to Efe that Adigital already asked for the precautionary suspension of the decree until the Supreme Court was pronounced, but last November it was denied.

Therefore, it remains only to wait for the decision of the Supreme Court, which in turn waits for the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to rule on a lawsuit filed by the French platforms, something that will not occur until at least the end of year.

In any case, last April the CJEU published the opinion of its General Counsel (similar to the Fiscal Ministry) that basically pointed out that the activity of these platforms is not that of real estate agents but that of services of the information society.

The Advocate General argued that they only put owners and tenants in contact, "without substantially influencing the true service provider", since it does not set the prices or rental conditions, for example, as read in that letter.

"That opinion is very important and will surely determine the ruling of the CJEU, which, in turn, will be key to determining that of the Spanish Supreme Court," according to Zimmermann, who insists that the "supervision and monitoring" tasks are being required from the platforms. of user data, something that should only be required if there is a court ruling.

The platforms indicate that they are also asked for difficult things to verify as if the tenant travels with children or other companions, when he has arrived in the country or when he will leave, and they point out that no other country in the environment requires such data.

"It seems totally excessive," says the General Director of Adigital, which in any case highlights "the willingness to collaborate with all the platforms" to which it groups, "provided that their activity is not jeopardized or the law is violated".

It also draws attention to the "traceability" of all its operations, contrary to what happened for example when tourist apartments were rented by word of mouth or through local newspapers and with cash payments.

Sources in the sector warn Efe that asking for too much data can discourage users and encourage their migration to non-transactional platforms (in which payments are not closed), which hinders their traceability and therefore that income is declared.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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